I want to preface this book with an explanation of why you should face your challenges. Facing your hardships head-on can be a daunting and challenging task. When the world seems to be crashing down around you, it can sometimes be simpler to ignore adversity, hoping it will go away. Why not just run away from your problems? In general, our intuition tells us to head away from danger, not towards it. That being said, how can willingly accepting something that’s hard to do be good for you? I want to provide an explanation aside from the obvious. This is, of course, the fact that your problems will eventually catch up with you. Let’s imagine for a second, a situation in which this isn’t the case. In this dreamland, due to some external forces, all your troubles just somehow disappear. Perhaps you were born into the lap of luxury and can take care of your problems with copious amounts of money. Would it be okay to avoid your problems then? Short answer, no.
People experience innate feelings of shame when they don’t live up to their expectations. In other words, when you back down from your challenges or don’t give it your all in the face of catastrophe, you recognize this and feel disappointed, expecting less from yourself. There are many ways people cope with this. Lowering the bar for themselves, focusing on other people’s shortcomings, shifting blame, and this is besides worse methods like drugs and alcohol, which can make problems “disappear” temporarily. My intention is not to berate the people who do any of these things. I can only assume that constantly resorting to these actions is no way to live. Why not overcome this feeling of shame or guilt, in a way that is much more productive and will solve your problems? That way is, of course, facing your challenges.
Building Yourself
To delve deeper into the benefits of confronting your adversity, in the spirit of the book’s title, we must address how this will create “The Best You.” You can only grow through challenge, and only by voluntarily accepting it. What exactly does this mean? It’s not the same as having difficult situations cast upon you, separate from your own free will. Let’s take school, for example. A relatable example, but also one that seems to contradict what was just mentioned. As a child, the choice to go to school is not made of one’s own volition (or else I sure as heck would have stayed home). That being said, you can still choose to
